Big Law attorneys weigh in on Hochul environmental plan as courts unsettle wetlands rules

Two prominent Big Law attorneys have emerged as key voices around the Hochul administration’s environmental policy proposal—one helping to shape its wording, another warning it will not solve New York’s housing crunch on its own. Richard G. Leland, a real estate litigation partner at Akerman, took part in a New York State Bar Association group that advised the Hochul administration on the proposal’s language.

Greenberg Traurig shareholder Steven C. Russo said he does not expect the plan to be a panacea for the state’s housing shortages, signaling that even supporters anticipate trade-offs as New York pursues environmental goals alongside development. The debate comes amid shifting legal terrain.

In 2022, New York expanded its wetlands law, but recent court rulings have annulled the Department of Environmental Conservation’s regulations, leaving landowners without guidance and shifting the burden to prove wetlands are regulated. The law broadens jurisdiction, eliminates mapping requirements, and increases enforcement, so landowners should assume permits are now needed for wetlands meeting the new criteria.

Separately, the state moved on other fronts in 2025, overhauling its State Superfund law and extending the State Superfund Program for ten years.

Lawmakers also enacted measures restricting chemicals in menstrual products and firefighter personal protective equipment; expanded the extended producer responsibility program for batteries to include electric scooter and bike batteries; and adopted protections for monarch butterflies and horseshoe crabs.

At the federal level, a court ruled the Biden administration’s efforts to halt offshore wind projects illegal, though the government may appeal. Suspensions of five major projects are blocked by courts, risking economic and environmental setbacks. These actions particularly harm New York’s clean energy goals and threaten U.S.

leadership in offshore wind. In a related critique, Daniel Markind argues that New York’s legal blocking of energy infrastructure has left the city and region exposed to energy shortages.

With new state statutes, unsettled wetlands regulations, and federal litigation all in play, attorneys say businesses, municipalities, and landowners will need to track developments closely as New York recalibrates the balance between environmental protection and growth.